091025

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Job 42v1-6, 10-17

Hebrews 7v23-28

Mark 10v46-52

Why did Jesus reach out to blind Bartimaeus?

There must have been a good number of beggars there all wanting money etc from the tourists/pilgrims going to and from Jerusalem.

So why Bartimaeus?

·        Did Bartimaeus recognise Jesus as the Messiah when he called out “Son of David!”?  This is a popular Messianic title of the day and Bartimaeus used it for Jesus.  Did blind Bartimaeus recognise Jesus as the Messiah from what he had heard people say in popular talk, and recognise that this was his opportunity to be healed, or was he merely trying to flatter a passing pilgrim of note?

·        Did God hear his cry? God hears the cry of His people, and so was Jesus responding to the cry of one of His people. A cry that perhaps came from deep within His heart with real sincerity and need. Psalm 145v19. “He hears their cry and saves them.”   Deut 4v29“He who searches for me with His whole heart will find me.”

·        What about the crowd? They were telling the blind beggar to shut up and be quiet. Beggars were seen as sinners and therefore a righteous man/prophet, rabbi, teacher, would clearly not want to have anything to do with a sinner.

o        Compassion on the rejected.  Did Jesus have compassion on this man who was not only blind and disabled, but to add further hurt to injury was despised and rejected by the community. Did he respond to Bartimaeus because of this double injury, like any other beggar?  Matthew 14v14.

o        The persecuting Crowd. Or was Jesus responding to the crowd’s attitude towards Bartimaeus? Each person in the crowd would have wanted attention and favour from this famous Rabbi, probably for no other reason than to boost their own importance and standing in the community, to be able to say, He spoke to me, He is my friend, He picked me out of the crowd, I am favoured by God.  Did Jesus choose to respond to Bartimaeus in order to teach the crowd that God’s grace reaches out to the humble sinner and those that are lost?  Romans 9v15 “I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”   Ezekiel 34v11 “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.”

Any one of these reasons could have been why Jesus responded to Bartimaeus.

And all of these reasons together could have been why he responded.

But what we can learn is this.

·        That God recognises and honours the faith in his Son, of each individual person.

·        That God hears the deepest cry for help of any and every person.

·        That God is more gracious than is commonly thought.

·        That God does not persecute sinners or individuals but reaches out with love and compassion.

·        Who then could possibly be outside the reach and concern of God?

·        He has demonstrated his love for us, especially the sinner and the lost, through His Son Jesus Christ!

·        God loves us more than we realise!